US Mental Health
ABLEnews Review, July 1993: Dataline
(24) Tue 6 Jul 93 12:46p
By: Earl Appleby
To: All
Re: Mental Health Statistics
ABLEnews Dataline
With the Clinton administration poised to cop out on the health care needs of millions of Americans with mental illness, ABLEnews thought some statistics might help us see a broader picture of...
US Mental Health
40 million adults experience some form of mental illness each year. About 5 million are affected by severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, manic depressive illness, and severe forms of depression, panic disorder, and obsessive compulsive behavior.
12 million children have some form of mental illness.
One-third of the homeless suffer severe mental disorders.
30,000 Americans commit suicide each year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers.
The direct coast of treating all mental disorders in 1990 was $67 billion. The cost of treating severe mental disorders was $27 billion, including $7 billion for long-tern nursing home care.
Making mental health coverage for the severely mentally ill commensurate to other health care coverage would add $6.5 billion in new mental health care costs, but produce a 10 percent decrease in the cost and use of general medical services by people with severe mental disorders. The savings would be $2.2 billion.
With a tip of our ABLEnews hat to the American Psychiatric Association.
[posted on ABLEnews... for any number of reasons. (1:262/4)]
...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia 25411 (304-258-LIFE/258-5433).
